54-46, that's my number: the Queens thread

De Mole breakfast is the BEST deal. And they do killer fresh juices as well. For the record, I was the first person to write a yelp review of De Mole.

Yeah, we can talk about food, or we can talk about the fact that the entire borough has no bookstores except like three Barnes and Nobles and a few that only stock spanish religious texts.

that'll be true in the rest of the city within 10 years.

have you been to cafe marlene?

No, never even heard of it!

Sounds promising for the neighborhood, but I can do without burlesque shows.

It's a little silly looking, but that's Queens for you! You can go to hipster places in Williamsburg where the design is totally cool and the food sucks, or you can go to weird euro places in Queens where the food is good!

yeah it looks borderline cheeseball but apparently has good food...haven't actually been yet (tho a read a long online debate by queens people complaining about the coffee prices.) anyway seems like it could potentially be a nice addition to the hood, never really loved aubergine.

My girlfriend will be happy there's another place to write. Cafescape never cut it, neither did Aubergine. She'd occasionally take the 7 to Communitea or Sweetleaf in LIC.

yeah we end up at sweetleaf fairly regularly, it's kinda gigantic after the renovation, seems more like an hipster institution than a cute coffeeshop now.

speaking of long island city, I'm excited that the court square transfer is almost done. I'm sure it will only save like 3 seconds but it looks pretty.

I would have loved having the escalators when I took that station! The total climb up from the G to the elevated 7 platform is actually like 5-1/2 flights or something!! And invariably the stairs are totally clogged and everyone has to go at the pace of the slowest member of the pack. Suuucks.

And by "the escalators", I mean, the ones I saw on the proposal sketch that was posted in the station like 2.5 years ago, which is probably the last time I was there.

Still get emails from Court Square Wines & Spirits, though. I should go to a tasting sometime.

that transfer looks almost done. They were working on it for the 7 months that I commuted from Woodside to Gowanus. Mornings was ok. Take the 7, come down the stairs. Get some breakfast at Sage. Get on an empty G train to brooklyn. Coming home sucked. Take G train to Queens. Climb scares. Walk 2 blocks. Climb more stairs. Get on crowded rush-hour 7 train.

By the way Laurel, your pic on facebook of Schnitzi House inspired me. I had been planning to go to Olympic Pita (though I was confused because I had been to Famous Pita and thought thats where I was going) so I went on sunday and walked around a bit after and saw Schnitzi House. Whoa wtf, are we discussing brooklyn food?

it's gonna be done in march, the stairs and tunnel is all done but they can't open it til the escalators/elevators work

NO BROOKLYN ITT

anyone been to m. wells?

Walked right by Sage last night doing that transfer and was tempted but didn't go in. We may not have a bookstore but we do have an award-winning library system with sevensix-day service, lots of newbooks and nice librarians like Virginia Plain. Actually what is the deal with this bookstore in Astoria: http://www.seaburn.com/Bookstore_Index.htm?

I went in there once, I think they have a greek section. it's pretty old school bookstorey.

gf was gonna get her (greek) mom a (greek) book but then realized she would have to buy something completely random as she does not speak greek

i miss queens. i hung out there a lot when i had an astorian boyfriend.

what's the best indian food in jackson heights these days?

M Wells was GREAT but pricey and a bit limited for non-meat eaters. Went twice for brunch. They're opening for dinner now but it's way high-end. Expensive organ meat dishes and such. We won't be going anytime soon but it's a great addition to the area.

I've never been in Seaburn.

The indian food in jackson heights isn't all that great and is totally inconsistent. Get nepali food at Mustang Thakali Kitchen. Mehfil is pretty big with the Jackson Heights whiteys, but they have a great weekend buffet, better then the joints on 74th st. They have this sweet tomato chutney that kills me.

there was one called ashoka that i used to like; dunno if they're still around or any good anymore.

yelp said it closed.

less snobby than dan w/r/t indian...anything on 74th seems fine to me. we like dosa place. also end up at jackson diner a lot mostly cause of the cocktails.

Delhi Palace is pretty good.

ime jackson diner was never that great, not worth battling the long lines for.

I like junky indian ok...but a lot of those places are pretty dire. The good food's all in Iselin, Edison, Hicksville, Jersey City etc.

edison otm

I'm one of those awful people who likes anything if it's spicy enough and jackson diner vindaloo is pretty spicy

another queens favorite of mine (and some ilxors from FAPs past can attest) was taverna kyclades on ditmars. yum grilled octopus!

http://www.tavernakyclades.com/

Holla! My library system actually sort of sucks, but thanks for the shout-out.

Seaburn is either going out of business or renovating. It's a used book store that never has/had anything good in it.

Is Aubergine closed now?

I had a horrible experience at M Wells. I went alone and they made me sit at the "community" table.

Ate at Delhi Palace in Jackson Heights the other day--it's a solid, though unremarkable choice.

Anyone have any good Filipino or other food recs near the Woodside library?

31-45

For the record, I was the first person to write a yelp review of De Mole.

i hope this goes on your tombstone dan

nah aubergine's still open

our favorite place near the library is probably quaint

wayyyy better burgers than donovan's

i just googled the street where my astoria guy lived and it's gentrified so much!

35-14, i believe? all those buildings look the same.

I don't know. On a good day I'll take Donovan's over anybody else. And I have had them at Quaint. I wish they had a larger and more varied menu. Other then that it's a great place. I've been to dinner a few times and always get the roast chicken with gratin potatoes.

Good filipino? I don't know. Payag has gotten mixed reviews. Went once, didn't know what to order, was underwhelmed. Have had breakfast at Engelines, it was good but mostly avoid the places due to low vegetarian friendliness.

Best places around Woodside library...Donovan's obviously, Rico Pan has great cheap empenadas and arepas and other treats. La Flor of course, for breakfast/lunch/brunch. Dinner is good too but more pricey. Rumphool across the street from Donovan's is really good Thai. Not as good as Srip or Chao, but better then anything in Brooklyn!

Cuckoo's Nest for Irish pub grub.

35-14 what? Astoria is a good place to visit to get a meal, but not somewhere I'd want to live. Very euro-trashy! Favorite greek is way up in Ditmars at the very end of queens just across from Astoria park and under the Hellgate bridge...Agnanti Mezze.

roommate always used to suggest fiesta grill for filipino, we never went but it's supposed to be cheap. sorta far from the library though.

ditmars.

yeah astoria feels way more euro-white than gentrified-white

though there are more $$$ restaurants

We love Arepas Cafe in Astoria as well. Same basic thing as Caracas but less hipsters and crowds and instead 1 delicious spicy mystery sauce, they have 2 slightly less mysterious delicious sauces.

The only real sign of gentrification, if you read gentrification as affluent white hipsters instead of affluent white euros (or even affluent white midtown office worker types) is Sparrow and maybe that bar that has deep fried pickles, what's it called?

But Astoria has always had certain amounts of gentrification going on, but always from a different angle. Like there's Astoria "hipsters" who all think they're too cool for sceney Williamsburg (actually just jealous!) and you have people from Long Island who work in midtown that figure Astoria is a good compromise. I'm sorry, I can be such an Astoria hater. But my girlfriend and I always play this game about labeling people as "hipsters" or "queens hipsters", which isn't to say a "queens hipster" is just a hipster who lives in queens. It's a totally different breed. For instance we have more in common with your classic brooklyn hipster then with "queens hipsters". Of course we lived in Brooklyn first.

So sad. We are just talking about food. I love Taverna Cyklades--a little more for the atmosphere than the food. It's on Ditmars around 34th St. I like the place near the park for atmosphere, not so much for food.

Best thing to happen to Astoria this year--the reopening of the Moving Image.

I co-started this thread. I can rant about white people if I want!

We'll try Taverna Cyklades. We had a decent meal at Philoxenia 2 years ago.

Astoria is a good place to visit to get a meal, but not somewhere I'd want to live. Very euro-trashy!

This is so lolsy. And true.

Astoria is a huge place though. I would say only the 30th avenue area could properly be called euro trashy (and that more so on the weekends). The ditmars area is almost sedate and suburban and the broadway area has more of a mix of Spanish and of course the Steinway area is Egyptian.

give me some examples of a "queens hipster."

signed,
brooklyn hipster for most of my life

Went to Ayada Thai recently, best Thai food I've had in the city.

I really do want to find out what's listed on the section of the Rumphool take-out menu that's only in Thai, though. Every time I look at it, it's like it's mocking me

I really do want to find out what's listed on the section of the Rumphool take-out menu that's only in Thai, though. Every time I look at it, it's like it's mocking me

find someone on the internet to translate it! l.a. has a restaurant called jitlada that became a big sensation when a diner made a translation project out of the "thai" (non-gringo) menu and shared it with the world.

not to derail the thread away from queens, but here's the post: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=13933

And I've had that special Jitlada dish. The southern lamb curry. It was the spiciest most delicious thing I've ever eaten and I still dream about it.

Prophecy confirmed.

Queens needed a thread to itself, feel like this will mostly just be about food but hey

― iatee, Wednesday, February 23, 2011 8:38 AM (twelve years ago)

if you want more of that, there's a very active facebook group called Eat Something New in Queens that's good.

Went back to Zaab Zaab tonight, the original one. I see they're in williamsburg too.

Walking home noticed some new places, or places I hadn't noticed. Red Panda, another nepali place, but on Woodside Ave

Next to that is Yoku Sushi and Bubble Tea. They have bubble tea, sushi, momos, panipuri, "authetic himalayan piro chips".

Will check that facebook group out.

I wanted to hit Birria Landa down the street as well, but we ate too much.

That was a standout rec from adam, some people need to post more hint hint. The "extra pocket features" one was a classic riposte.

Queens would still be the best borough if it wasn't the best food borough. Has all the classic NYC vibes without the gaudy opulence and the pretentiousness and nauseating hipster bullshit. The 20th century refuses to recede completely away and contemporary life buzzes around the ruins (literally!), and you can travel across time and vast distances in a single day. Food is a great way to celebrate the collision of cultures though! I know this sounds corny af, but i don't care. You should visit Queens, Aimless. It's pretty cool.

You should visit Queens, Aimless.

I fully agree, but I am going to die in abject ignorance of 99.9% of this amazing planet merely for lack of time, money, or energy. But not for lack of interest!

yeah same, for sure

currently at izakaya nana sitting behind a taiko drum autographed by eric adams.

https://i.postimg.cc/GmrWjPDr/IMG-7544.jpg

Put it in the trash

^^^

update: was cursed with the worst food poisoning i've had in recent memory after the meal. up all night on the toilet. do not recommend. also, pretty sure the place is run by chinese people. if that matters to you.

it's on
https://i.ibb.co/tzPptck/IMG-20240226-162251169-HDR.jpg

place is a real time capsule, not the cleanest. expectations exceeded. it's awesome

still has a bar attached, not open at 4:30 on a monday but i had a peek amd doesn't appear tiki themed

Couldn't tell you the last time I was in there. Or don't want to ;)

https://i.ibb.co/kK0Wsvk/IMG-20240226-171014010.jpg

not bad for a f***** who doesn't know how to bowl

114 very respectable in my book.

do we know when that place is closing?

https://gothamist.com/news/council-clears-path-to-replace-whitestone-lanes-with-housing

per this article from feb 8, no construction schedule yet

The Bowlero near the BQE is still in business but that doesn’t have nearly the charm or history

It was still an AMF or whatever and still had some charm the first time I went but that was quickly erased.

Melody lanes in sunset park looks hella charming, but the fuck am i going to Sunset park

it's in the wrong borough for starters

i have been to Sunset Park once, it took forever on the subway. I've made it to Philly in less time on mass transit. or that's what it felt like.

I did my bachelor party at melody lanes. It has a really old school bar that’s popular. I was already in queens but all the guests were in Brooklyn. It was the post college DJ dudes vs the college indie rockers. We went to dinosaur bbq in gowanus first and it was really disappointing.

Should’ve done Whitestone and little pepper instead.

Or Legend of Taste (is that still there?). I never made it, but still remember a friend describing it in the manner of recent convert to a religion.

omg legend of taste rules
too out of the way to hit regularly to spot after fort totten excursions

*but is my go-to spot

I have to go soon.

i have been to Sunset Park once, it took forever on the subway. I've made it to Philly in less time on mass transit. or that's what it felt like.

― A street taco cart named Des'ree (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, February 27, 2024 5:00 PM (yesterday)

you can just take the commuter van from flushing

flushing is a solid hour from me on the subway lol

little spice looks amaaaaaazing too, dan when is your guidebook coming out srsly

north of the expressway is tough for pedestrians tho, not that bay terrace isn't

was thinking of doing a fort totten day next week actually

Little Pepper requires a car, or bus.

i went to little pepper after the pete wells review came out. thought it was OK. it's definitely got that 'home-cooked' feel to it. the sichuan restaurants in flushing are comparable. so don't feel too bad if you can't get up to college point.

I have eaten at Little Pepper more than any other Chinese restaurant. Their tripe and tongue in chili sauce is all-time.

Uncle Zhou was maybe my favorite restaurant. Their knife shaved noodles were amazing. Rabbit or Chicken in Big Tray (rabbit or chicken that had been hacked into little pieces (bones and all) and wok fried with a mega ton of dried chili pepper and peppercorn). They closed pre-pandemic and I just found out they had moved to TX.

https://sunnysidepost.com/its-confirmed-shake-shack-is-coming-to-sunnyside-this-year

ugh, shake shack moving into the void left by the deeply missed Mangal Kebab.

Shake Shack sucks is a hill I will die on. I would rather eat McDonalds.

https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/03/06/fbi-new-world-mall-eric-adams/

scandalous!

https://i.imgur.com/9mczvu2.jpeg

closed on our co-op today. officially a queens resident for life!

Congrats!

Welcome!

lol, that’s what I said in 2013 when we bought ours. Gateway to the suburbs.

In seriousness though, congrats!

Thanks to this thread, I took my visiting nephew to Sripraphai a couple of weeks ago! It was fine. I couldn't remember what the recommended dishes were but my taste is not that adventurous. The funny part is that a week later, one of my very culinarily advanced co-workers was being secretive about her supposed secret best Thai spot in Queens...which was guess where lol. Thanks, ilx!

ha, best kept secret Sripraphai.

I haven't been in years but I was underwhelmed when I went, whereas I thought Ayada was great.

Nothing there is bad and a few things are great, some standards I like there, but not quite blow your mind like some of the newer places. Def far from a secret.